1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for completing a wellbore. More specifically, the invention relates to a device that is portable to a wellbore and used for field testing of proppant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hydrocarbon producing wellbores extend subsurface and intersect subterranean formations where hydrocarbons are trapped. The wellbores generally are created by drilling system having a drill bit mounted on an end of a drill string made up of tubulars threaded together. Usually a drive system is used to rotate the drill string and bit, and is set above an opening to the wellbore. As the bit is rotated, cutting elements on the drill bit scrape the bottom of the wellbore and excavate material thereby deepening the wellbore. Drilling fluid is typically pumped down the drill string and directed from the drill bit into the wellbore. The drilling fluid flows back up the wellbore in an annulus between the drill string and walls of the wellbore. Cuttings produced while excavating are carried up the wellbore with the circulating drilling fluid.
Sometimes fractures are created in the wall of the wellbore that extend into the formation adjacent the wellbore. Fracturing is typically performed by injecting high pressure fluid into the wellbore and sealing off a portion of the wellbore. Fracturing generally initiates when the pressure in the wellbore exceeds the rock strength in the formation. Packing the fractures with a proppant, such as sand or resin coated particles, supports the fractures and blocks sand production or other particulate matter from the formation into the wellbore.
When the fractures are packed with resin coated proppant, the well is typically shut in for a period of time to cure the resin before fluid is produced from the well. Producing from a well whose fractures have uncured resin coated proppant introduces a risk of proppant flowing out of the fractures along with the produced fluid. The time to cure the resin may vary depending on pressure and temperature in the well. Known methods of estimating a shut in time include, curing samples of proppant at an estimated wellbore pressure and temperature, and monitoring the sample over time to determine when the resin cures.